Clemson clobbers Wake Forest with explosive offense

WINSTON-SALEM — Forcing Clemson to punt on its first two drives was a good sign for Wake Forest.

Those feelings turned out to be fleeting.

No. 14 Clemson scored on its next five possessions and stormed to a 42-13 victory against Wake Forest on Thursday night in Atlantic Coast Conference action at BB&T Field.

Wake Forest’s defense appeared to have an early gauge on the Clemson offense before the Tigers showed off their explosiveness.

“We came out those first two drives and stopped them, thought we were going to have a good game,” Wake Forest defensive tackle Nikita Whitlock said. “I don’t know. They just started throwing the ball on us and scoring.”

Clemson junior Tajh Boyd threw touchdown passes on each of those five drives as the Tigers jumped ahead 35-0. When Clemson had five touchdowns, Wake Forest (4-4 overall, 2-4 ACC) had six first downs.

On Clemson’s third possession, the Tigers (7-1, 4-1) broke through with a 57-yard pass from Boyd to Sammy Watkins.

The Tigers’ speed proved to be the main issue, with Wake Forest’s secondary lagging behind on eight pass plays of 10 or more yards in the first half.

The Demon Deacons defense goes into Clemson record books, and not for good reasons.

Boyd threw for a school-record 428 yards and recorded the fourth five-touchdown passing game in school history. He also threw for five touchdowns against North Carolina on Oct. 22 last season.

Clemson sophomore receiver Sammy Watkins set the school record for receiving yards with 202. He had three catches of 50 or more yards, all in the first half.

The longest scoring drive of the first half was 3:19 – Clemson’s first and only score of the first quarter. All four of the Tigers’ touchdowns and Wake Forest’s touchdown in the second quarter came on drives of less than two minutes.

“We know that was a great offense,” Wake Forest linebacker Riley Haynes said. “I thought we got a little flustered after a couple scores. You’ve got to be able to weather the storm when the wheels come off.”

Wake Forest corrected itself defensively in the second half, shutting out Clemson in the third quarter. When the Demon Deacons scored a touchdown in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 35-13, the game was within relative striking distance.

But the Demon Deacons couldn’t quite muster enough momentum to overcome the hole they built in the first half.

Part of the reason for a possible comeback cut short was a lack of forced turnovers.

After forcing three turnovers last week against Virginia, Wake Forest couldn’t come up with any turnovers against Clemson.

“What I’d hoped for was turnovers. I hoped our defense would be a little more opportunistic,” Grobe said.

Fullback Tommy Bohanon scored both of Wake Forest’s touchdowns – catching passes of 18 and 9 yards. He has five touchdown catches this season to lead the Demon Deacons.

But Bohanon and the offense was mostly limited throughout the night and finished with 290 yards of offense.

“They did a great job of mixing up the blitzes and changing coverages,” Bohanon said. “There’s no real surprise.”

Wake Forest’s offense did receive a shot in the arm with the return of receiver Michael Campanaro, who returned to the field after missing the last 2½ games with a broken bone in his right hand. He had six catches for 52 yards.

-- EXTRA POINTS …:Grobe is winless in six games against ranked Clemson teams. … Wake Forest senior Terence Davis tied a career high with seven receptions. … Wake Forest’s 290 yards of offense is its highest total in the last three games. … Clemson kicker Chandler Catanzaro had converted 20 straight field goals before missing a 48-yard attempt wide left in the third quarter. The streak is fourth best in ACC history.